ABSTRACT
Genre, its nature and significance, are a central aspect of popular music studies. I begin here with a preliminary discussion of the concept and its study, building on the concept of metagenres, introduced in the previous chapter through the discussion of pop and rock. Following this, I consider a number of examples of the development of particular genres, indicative of different emphases within this process: heavy metal and electronic dance music (EDM) show a common pattern of genre differentiation, with a range of subgenres developing during the history of the form; world music shows the importance of marketing to genre formation, and illustrates debates around cultural appropriation; and hip hop demonstrates the shift to the commercial mainstream of a once marginal musical style.
